I generally try to steer clear of politics on this blog, but this just pisses the bloody hell out of me.

The New York Times

GAZA — The American State Department has withdrawn all Fulbright grants to Palestinian students in Gaza hoping to pursue advanced degrees at American institutions this fall because Israel has not granted them permission to leave.

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I’m in Karachi for the week and want to meet you guys. Plus, we want to do some usability testing of Lootmaar, and bounce some ideas off of you guys on new features we’re planning to launch.

How about 4pm, Saturday (May 31) at t2f?

Needless to say, coffee and decadent, high-calorie brownies are on us.

Just a random idea, if you’re up for it, let me know in the comments section and I’ll confirm the plan on email.

-Adnan

If you want some seriously good value for money, you should fly Airblue. You get the pleasure of shouting at the station manager, enjoying the fabulous cafes at Terminal 2 because your flight gets delayed by 3 hours, and most importantly, you get the chance to hone odor identification skills. Sniff sniff..Peshawar..sniff..taxi driver. And that’s from ten feet; imagine the magnificent olfactory stimulation of sitting next to one.

I’m kind of irked at myself for flying Airblue. Its 400 dirhams cheaper than Emirates, so I thought, what the hell, might as well. By the time I was on the flight, I ended up paying 400 in taxi fares, cafe food, and sheer waste of time. Let’s start with the online reservation system. Quite progressive, you’d be inclined to think. But hold on, the damn thing doesn’t work on Firefox. So, you reserve a ticket, and you have around 1 day to buy it. You go to the transaction page, are confronted by unpleasant terms and conditions, you click on “I agree”, press next and the page doesn’t move. You call the helpline, and they helpfully say “But sir, its working here.” Joy. Thankfully it works on IE. Its clearly my fault that I’m using a standards compliant, open source browser. Marginally irritated, I calm myself. Its ok, they’re an upcoming airline. What’s a little bit of browser incompatibility here and there?

Next day, I try an online transaction and my CC gets declined. I call HSBC and some cretin in Bangalore answers, “Please sir, how can i help you sir”.

Me: “I’m trying to make a transaction online, but my CC got declined. Can you tell me why?”

HSBC: “Because you’re over limit”

Me: “And why am I overlimit?”

HSBC: “I can’t tell you sir”

Me: “Excuse me?”

HSBC: “You have a hold that I can’t tell you about”

Me: “So let me understand this. There is a transaction I haven’t made and its taking up my CC limit AND YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT IT IS”

HSBC: “No sir”

Me: “So, I might be the subject of cyber fraud and you won’t tell me who the bloody hell charged my credit card”

HSBC: “That is correct sir. Actually, the merchant hasn’t charged the credit card yet. It is a hold. And as per policy, we can’t tell you who the merchant is until he charges your card”

Me: *Turning different colors of red*

HSBC: “OK, I’ll tell you this much. The amount is in GBP and its 117.26″

Me: Aren’t you guys just a tad-bit miserable!

HSBC: Is there anything else I can do for you sir?

So it turns out that dear old Airblue charged my CC once, but they weren’t quite happy with that. So they decided to put a hold on it for an equivalent amount. Of course, when I called their helpline, they didn’t have a clue.

So, on the humid Sunday evening, when the lady at the check-in counter greeted me with “sir, I need a photocopy of your passport and a copy of your credit card.” I exploded. Nowhere in the bloody terms and conditions did they say that they would need a copy of my credit card. Interesting, they also handed me a form to enter all the details of my credit card INCLUDING the secret verification number. So, in case you don’t get the gravity of their stupidity, let me clarify:

1. When you buy a ticket, you agree to certain terms and conditions that they stipulate. NOWHERE in the terms does it say that they will keep a photocopy of the credit card.

2. Not only do they need a copy of the credit card, but also all the details (including the billing address) need to be provided on a cheap photocopied paper form that will probably be seen by dozens of unauthorized personnel as it is hurled between locations without any regard for information security.

The kind station manager made it clear that he won’t allow me to board the flight unless I comply with what was effectively a breach of contract on their part.

Some animals are more equal than others, I guess.

-Adnan

The School of Leadership and ExtraCorp have organized a big-screen showing of Taare Zameen Par on May 24th at Nishat Cinema. All proceeds will go towards the enablement of special children and for each ticket bought, a special child will also get a ticket to the movie.

Tickets available here.

I have a confirmed ticket, and I’m on my return flight to Dubai. The airport I’m at was constructed in 1980s and was at one time the largest in the world, eclipsing the one at Dallas Fortworth. It is a white elephant like no other known to man. With entire terminals still unopened, buildings in disrepair and airport operations so primative it makes Rahim Yar Khan look modern, it is a testament to massive wealth gone awry.

I arrive at the airport in a good mood. Two hours and I will be in Dubai eating Yaki Udon in Wagamama, served by cute Asain waitresses. I stand in the checkin queue for Saudi Airlines, wait 30 minutes for my turn, hand in my eticket to the clerk and watch him fight with his keyboard for 10 minutes. “It’s already used”, he mutters.

“What do you mean its already used?” I shreik back, “I came on the ticket, and now I’m going back.”

“Its used. Go speak with supervisor.” *thick arabic accent*

Supervisor: “Yes” – in a curt, arrogant tone.

Me: “I have this confirmed ticket, my travel agent is on the phone, in case you need more information.”

Supervisor: “Don’t you understand, your ticket is used.”

Me: “But who used it.” *incredulous*

Supervisor: “I know my job. Don’t tell me my job. Now go speak with the Standby guys”

Me to my travel agent: “What the F*cK are these ba*ta*rds doing?”

Travel agent: “Shut up now, unless you want to spend a week in jail. These guys are animals. I’ll issue a new ticket. Be nice.”

-10 minutes left to departure-

Me: “Excuse me sir, I understand that the ticket might be used, I have a new ticket, can you please process it.”

Supervisor: “You were lying to us. You should’ve given me the new ticket before. You give us old ticket.”

Me: “But both my tickets should work. I *just* issued another one because i need to be on the flight.”

*After some shouting, and some pleading*

Supervisor: “Go speak with that guy”

The new ticket works. I’m the last one on the plane, I make my way to the last odd seat I got, sit next to a sharp looking INSEAD-educated consultant, open my bag to take out the latest issue of The Economist.

Coverpage: The rise of the Gulf: Manaing Massive Wealth.

JOY!

So what happens when four royal families concentrated in a tiny geographic region have more money than god? Do they use that money for social upliftment? Do they pay off the debts of Africa, fund HIV research, eradicate polio, and provide clean water to the millions who don’t have it or do they squander the unfathomable wealth on mile high towers, underwater resorts, gold plated faucets, and diamond studded credit cards?

My problem with the GCC controlling funds worth 1 trillion dollars, and 40% of global oil production, is not that it’s unfair, but it’s unsafe.

But is it?

It’s been a rough few weeks. First, I got entangled in an insane travel schedule that took me to holy land more often than I like, and then, a vulnerability in Wordpress caused malicious links to be injected into my rss feed. Its fixed now though, and I sure hope the blog doesn’t direct our innocent readers to hot blonds in all imaginable configurations.

On another note, we’re waiting for the receipts of the donations made through charity auctions. To those who said it couldn’t be done; thanks for the encouragement.

-Adnan

While waiting at SFO airport, the simple act of eating a sandwich made me, once again, realize the importance of thoughtful design for a product.

The sandwich I bought looked appealing enough. It was one of many sitting inside an open chiller. In a clear-top box about a foot long and three or four inches wide. The sandwich, on a short baguette roll, was cut in half on a diagonal, so as to expose the layers of cheese, ham and lettuce. All together the presentation was attractive and colorful.

However, as I took my first bite, I wondered if the person who made this sandwich has ever tried eating his/her own creation. It is simply impossible to take a satisfying bite out of the thing. The whole thing is about three inches thick and three inches wide, and unless you have an unusually wide mouth, very challenging to bite into. (Ok, make your dirty jokes now.) I have to take awkward bites out of the edges and end up with either mouthfuls of bread or mouth fulls of filling.

It seems as if the ‘designer’ tried to maximize the perceived value in the item by maximizing the amount of material used. However, what was forgotten was that the interaction experience has to be scaled appropriately, human scaled.

The best products and services know how to engage the human scale through every aspect of the product life cycle. Even a sandwich.

-Wynn